Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

The main attractions at the event were the 39 winners of a drawing competition.

Josie Walsh, 11, took first place in the fifth grade category for showing what recycling means to her.

"It was about the world being beautiful and trying to keep it that way through recycling, she explained.

State legislators also strutted their stuff in clothes made from recycled materials. Although it's a fun event, the Missouri Recycling Association also had pamphlets and booths in the rotunda to tell people about recycling.

"Recycling is a business," said Matt Harline. "It's an industry." The industry employs at least 28,000 people in Missouri.

"Hopefully they'll get the message that people make their living doing this," he added.

Harline said the bottom line is, "Natural resources are scarce, and jobs are important."

Walsh already has figured out why recycling's important for protecting our natural resources.

"Because then we're not just dumping junk everywhere and that kind of thing," she said.

MORA hopes all Missouri residents remember that in mind, even after its annual Recycling Awareness Day ends.